The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.

- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so

-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...

-James Branch Cabell

March 04, 2018 - 12:12 p.m.

Buses, Trains, and Automobiles

I didn't get a chance to write yesterday because I did things worth writing about but there was much to write about the day before. Do I now write one long edition or split them up? I will try writing, posting, eating, then writing a second entry. I rarely can pull that off, but I can try. The coffee that comes with eating will help.

So now I'm going to look back through th depths of time to tell the tale of my adventures on Friday, two whole days again. The world is now ready for this story, unlike the adventure with the giant rat of Sumatra.

Friday was the day of the nor'easter. Friday is also the day of my therapy up in Harrison. The trip to Harrison is the first chapter of the epic. Jane was home and able to drive me to the New Rochelle Train station. It's a short trip, 15 minutes, Jane is kind and if she's home takes me. That saves me almost an hour of travel time. We live on City Island, to get anywhere we have to go through Pelham Bay Park. See where this is going? Nor'easter, driving through a forest. Our obstacle was a fire truck stopped on the road. There wasn't a fire, there was a tree down. Who knew that firemen clear downed trees? But there was one with a chainsaw in hand.

Remember the name of the park? Pelham Bay? It's low lying ground. It was raining. You're way ahead of me. There was flooding. The first one we just went to the side and drove around it. The next was worse, the way through was narrower. As we drove through the isthmus a pick-up truck sped through the lake. We were blinded.

Then came the coup de grace, another tree down, a huge one right across the road. There was a small space a car could get through on the other side of the road, right into oncoming traffic. Some cars turned around. The truck that raced through the lake turned around; it was too wide to get through. We risked it and drove through it. We didn't die. Once we were out of the park things were fine.

With all that I missed my train by seconds. It pulled out as I was on the stairs to the platform. That meant taking a cab from the Harrison station. I got to my therapist's office just on time. I forgot to tell you. My appointment was earlier than usual. All my therapist's other patients canceled. She said that she knew I'd be there. I had an extra-long session as she had no one coming after me. I needed that as she had to cancel last week because she was ill.

The first thing we discussed was what I was going to do the rest of the day. My plan was to go into the City for Abbie Gardner's CD release show and preshow party. It was so difficult getting to the hospital and the weather was so miserable I was having second thoughts. I was wondering if FOMA (Fear Of Missing Out) was overriding my good sense. I left the decision up to my therapist. She said I should go! Yay! That wasn't crazy. It was an excellent session. When I told her that I took care of claiming my money from the state immediately and without someone to hold my hand she was delighted. I knew she would be. That's central to my anxiety and I did it. It's progress.

The next adventure was getting into the city. The bus was 13 minutes late and it was cold, windy, and wet. There's no bus shelter. It felt so good when I boarded. It's a short bus ride, 5 minutes. After four minutes. The bus stopped. I looked ahead. There was a road block; a power line had come down and was stretched across the road. I got out of the bus and walked the rest of the way. It was still cold, wet, and windy.

The worst was over but there was one more adventure. At New Rochelle the passengers from an Amtrak train that broke down had to join us. That's hundreds of people coming on an already crowded train. They asked everyone to make every seat available. One person near me was taking up three seats, one for herself and two for her packages. She didn't make a move to remove them. There was plenty of room on the overheads. The train was packed, there were kids sitting on their parents' laps but that wasn't her problem.

I had a lot of time before the pre-party. I had planned on that. I haven't bought clothes in years. I went to Goodwill. It's a hard place to shop, things aren't organized by size. I gave up on pants where I need both the right waist and length. I got two shirts and a pair of sweat pants. I then went to Dunkin' Donuts. I wanted a place to get a good hot chocolate but I saw that DD had a special, any medium drink for $2 so I went in. I have never been that fond of DD hot chocolate, this was very good. I love DD, but they don't do a great job of quality control at the stores. I love their coffee, except in the story in Oakland Gardens, where I used to live. I'm pretty sure they used less coffee than they were supposed to.

I've written 928 worlds and it's after noon. I haven't even gotten to the preparty. I might have to write three entries. I knew I had a lot to write about. Maybe I can combine Friday night and Saturday afternoon into one entry that I'll write after I eat.